Bertha Wellin

Wellin was educated as a nurse at the Sophiahemmet in Stockholm, and was employed within the Stockholm Poor Care.

Wellin was a board member of several of the medical centers in Stockholm, such as Sophiahemmet (1917). She was a co-founder and a member of the board of directors of the Svensk sjuksköterskeförening ('Swedish Nurses Association') or SSF in 1910 and chairperson from 1914 to 1933. From 1920, she served as a member of the board of directors in the Committee of Nordic Nurses Cooperation. From 1911, she was the editor of Svensk sjukskötersketidning ('Swedish Nurses' Paper').

In 1912, Wellin was elected to the Stockholm City Council as a Conservative, and in 1919, she joined the board of directors for public health care. In 1921, she became one of the first five women to be elected to the Swedish Parliament (Riksdag) after women's suffrage, alongside Nelly Thüring (Social Democrat), Agda Östlund (Social Democrat) and Elisabeth Tamm (Liberal) in the Andra kammaren (Lower house), and Kerstin Hesselgren in the Första kammaren (Upper house). She was a member of the lower house; she left her seat in 1935.

As a member of parliament, Wellin was foremost engaged in issues regarding the nursing profession. As a conservative, her view of nursing was that it was not to be regarded as a profession but as a holy calling of mercy. Her work both as an MP and as head of the Nursing Association was affected by this view, which blocked questions regarding higher wages and fewer working hours. This gradually caused more conflict within the nursing association when it became more and more dominated by nurses who did not come from a wealthy background but needed to support themselves on their salaries, who demanded higher wages and set working hours, and wished to be regarded as professionals rather than as philanthropic workers. In 1932–1933, the professional party gained a majority within the nursing association, and Wellin saw herself forced to resign from her chair, leaving the meeting as well as the association singing hymns. She left her seat in the parliament as well when she did not run for the 1936 election.

Wellin was given the Florence Nightingale Medal in 1935.